Imagine: 65 crazed Pepperdine alumni and students scampering around Disneyland solving puzzles searching for clues and deciphering cryptic fortune cookie messages. A new tradition burst onto the Pepperdine scene last Sunday.
The Great Pepperdine Clue Quest organized by Alumni Affairs officers Allen Gillespie and Matt Ebling brought alumni and students from four of Pepperdine’s five schools to Disneyland for a day of adventuring.
“I figured there are 800000 [Disneyland] Annual Passholders in California. At least 1000 or so of those have got to be Pepperdine students or alumni said Gillespie regarding their decision to hold the event at Disneyland.
Alex Cox, a senior and the captain of a questing team made up of Seaver students, is one of these Annual Passholders.
It was cool Cox said. There were only two or three Seaver student teams. It was mostly alumni. With 22 teams it was a pretty big turnout.”
There was an alumni majority at the event mostly because most Seaver students did not realize the event was happening.
“We experienced some major roadblocks in marketing especially to students Gillespie explained. Only one e-mail got sent out and we didn’t manage to reserve a table in the Caf soon enough. The current Seaver students who did participate were gathered through a small Facebook group I made which consisted of students I’d met and admitted.” (Gillespie worked in the Office of Admissions until 2007).
“Next year we’ll try to promote to students earlier he said.
The Quest itself consisted of a scavenger hunt all over the park. Each of the teams had to consist of at least four people, and orange and blue clothing was mandatory. The team captains were required to be a Pepperdine student or alum.
These teams raced all over the park in search of clues. However, to find Quest Command the centralized starting and clue-receiving place, each team was handed a fortune cookie with a cryptic, numbered message to decipher.
Once the mystery of Quest Command was solved, the teams were given other clues to figure out, which sent them running from Main Street USA to read signs in shop windows to the rugged pathways of Adventureland.
One of the game’s many twists existed in the form of the notorious Bonus Clue.”
The “Bonus Clue” was given to adventurers sealed in an envelope at the beginning of the quest for them to open at their own risk. Should they open it and get it right they would get an extra 100 points added onto their score. If they brought it back to Quest Command to find it incorrect though they lost 50 precious points.
“It is essentially up to the adventurers whether they want to take the risk or not Gillespie said.
There were 1,000 points possible to obtain, but no team scored nearly that high, with 800 being the winning score.
Overall the game required a lot of thought and was a lot of fun Gillespie said. It wasn’t just easy; there were enough factors to separate the teams [in terms of finding a clear winner].”
Even as an Annual Passholder with plenty of Disneyland-savvy the Quest was not a mere breeze for Cox.
“It was challenging Cox said. I know Disney pretty well and I struggled a bit.”
So families with younger children could participate a “Family Quest” was created as well.
“The clues to the kids’ quest spelled out Pepperdine’s Creed— ‘Purpose Service and Leadership'” Gillespie said. “We did this to educate the kids on what Pepperdine is about to get our message to them.”
Everyone was a winner in the Family Quest. Every child walked away with his or her very own Pepperdine Frisbee.
The stakes for the regular Quest were quite a bit higher though. Disneyland gift certificates which could be spent anywhere in the park were the prize of choice. The first place winners who were a flock of Graziadio alumni received $50 worth. Second prize earned by a team of Law students earned $30 and third won by Alex Cox’s team of Seaver students received $20.
“The winner can spend their cash however they want whether it be as many churros as they can eat or a souvenir to remember the day by Gillespie said, on the choice of prize.
Winning or losing aside, the Great Pepperdine Clue Quest (purposely named to be abbreviated as GPC, as in George Pepperdine College) was a success, even in its very first year.
There are only a handful of traditions people look forward to year after year. We’re targeting this to people who will be loyal to it and continue to come back Gillespie said.
Despite its small beginning, Gillespie and Cox both have great expectations for the event in years to come.
I can see the event being huge in the future especially if it’s catered to students and alumni connecting Cox said.
Gillespie, especially, has high hopes for The Great Pepperdine Clue Quest.
The hope is that people who go as current students will keep coming back as alumni and hopefully bring their own kids someday to be like ‘I used to do this as a student and it was fun.'”